From the beginning, the recipe for GTA V was vastly different to what we experienced in GTA IV. Back in 2008, we received a game and a promise of expansion, and within the following two years we received DLC that didn't rival Niko's story, but complimented it. Tacked onto this was a multiplayer mode that was easy to get into, fun to play and simple to navigate. Fast forward to 2013 and before us was a beautiful map, rich with detail and life, and for the first time three controllable protagonists in a single story. Rockstar had outdone themselves; were they going to release DLC for each of these guys like they did for GTA IV? The excitement for this at the time was spine-tingling. A month later, however, we flew into Los Santos not as a character, but as ourselves. GTA Online was born and it was time to make our own story.

Since that time, we've had a version for old generation consoles, an enhanced version for new generation consoles, and a release for PC. On top of this we've had 27 game-play changing and themed DLC for GTA Online that have been absolutely free. That's a feat unrivalled by most other game companies, and for that we should be thankful. The sore point here however is that none of this content has ever made it into GTA V singleplayer, and so the cake didn't turn out as expected like it did for GTA IV; an ingredient was missing, GTA Online didn't just accompany GTA V, it took it's place.

It's easy to accept now that the ship has probably sailed on singleplayer DLC, and the aforementioned free DLC that has come to GTA Online has held the interest of many players, new and old. From a fan point of view, GTA Online has also been the source of many friendships, the forger of many communities, and a place to showcase your creativity, but it's not without it's resentment and woe. The nature of the game has instilled an unsatiable desire in many regular players; a thirst for new content that will never be quenched. Are we in self-denial, since every game has a shelf-life? Or was GTA just not this type of game in the first place?

It might therefore pain some folks to hear that rumours are starting to echo around the community that updates for GTA Online have started to simmer down in preparation for the upcoming Red Dead Redemption 2 release at the end of this year.

Yan2295, Rockstar Games enthusiast, has fuelled this conversation with an update on his website today discussing that work continues on other games like Red Dead Redemption 2 and the next GTA (that comes without question, really), and that the team dedicated to GTA Online updates has significantly reduced in numbers because of this. It's suggested that the Import/Export DLC was to be the last of the game's major updates, with things stopping at a low ebb in time for autumn when RDR2 drops.

So what of the most requested updates originating on GTAForums? There's many DLC ideas that players are still pushing for, including cops and robbers, night club management, tuners, car dealerships and even a map expansion. There's also a multitude of vehicles requests, weapon requests and gameplay elements like more clothes and mansions. Is it time to start considering that we shouldn't be making wishlists for GTA Online, but instead for "GTA 6" or "GTA Online 2.0"? Perhaps it's wise to start accepting the inevitable now rather than later, even though GTA Online is still very much a constant for many players.

You might think that it would be hard, even stupid, for any business to walk away from the continuing profits and chart success GTA V and GTA Online has enjoyed, however Rockstar are not a one-game developer. Fans will continue to enjoy the games for years to come, if the 3D era is anything to go by. Similarly, it's important for them, and for us as their fans, to see what else they can do and celebrate the fact they have other franchises to show us in the future.

So, we're not actually saying that anything Yan2295 says is true or anything but speculation, because we promised to only post official news here, but the conversation is still an interesting one to have and we'd like those that have a good head on their shoulders to come forward and say their piece. As Rockstar fans, we don't only like to play their games, but we like to analyse and discuss them; it might be complete guesswork but that's what GTAForums is built on!

If you'd like to contribute to this conversation or voice your opinion, feel free to post here or head on over to any of the links below:

Yinepi

Pretty much inevitable and expected for GTA Online to 'die' after few years. That is nature of online games in general. The developer stops releasing content and then majority of players will get bored and move on to newer games, and by about year 4 the online portion is ghost town.

Positive thing though is that GTA Online has lasted 3 years, and sometimes that is more than other games online portion last. I just hope that if new content updates start getting worse quality than the prices will be cheaper on the future content.

Matty256

The GTAO Updates used to be available for story mode then stopped when the updates got bigger.

Didn't Rockstar say that GTA Online would eventually be its own stand alone game back in 2013?. Whenever the next GTA is here we could see everything that we have now and bring them across to the next GTA and continue growing the online experience that way.

Mokrie Dela

Killed by drones.

YEEbatsu

Joined: 01 May 2009

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This would make a lot of sense. Rockstar would want to push RDR, and having GTAO at the front of their marketing would distract and detract from that. They want us to buy and focus on RDR and the [imo] inevitable online treatment that it will get. On one hand, I'm glad. GTAO is great if you have a well of friends to play with - in [again, imo] invite only AKA non-griefers' mode. But as great as these free updates were, they didn't do it for me. The single player was abandoned and forgotten, the already lackluster narrative forsaken. All in favour of a few fancy cars.

I have concerns over RDR's singleplayer, narrative and characters. GTAV fell short on that front to me. Empty, almost pointless characters, a real lack of a story saga (IV and RDR felt like long, involving adventures, long roads that we joined the characters on. GTAV felt hollow and empty. Perhaps Rockstar felt they couldn't deliver on their now-highly-set storytelling standards, or perhaps they wanted to focus solely on their (admittedly brilliant) business model Either way, while I see RDR having a similar online system, I really hope it's not at the expense of any Single player stuff. DLC packs are great, but have them available online (obviously, doing so removes the want for players to go online and buy them and thus lessens the draw of shark cards) and add more story-based DLC, like EFLC, RDR:UN, or for fans of Fallout games, DLC like 3's Broken Steel, or NV's Honest Hearts/Lonesome Road (which really expand the story and characters).

I strongly believe that it's possible to have both, but GTAO "slowing down" is a clear sign that they're gearing up for Red Dead Online, and to be honest, that worries me more than it excites me.

I think I'll wait for a proper announcement by Rockstar Games. I'm sure Yan is a reliable source, but I'll wait till I hear it straight from R* first.

We're not really focusing on Yan's reliability here even though he's mentioned, it's more of an editorial post to link back to the discussion topics about what we should and shouldn't be expecting for the future. It's not likely we'll ever get an official announcement about this kind of thing, it could just slowly happen over time. Feel free to post your thoughts about it though

Happy Hunter

I have a feeling I'm going to be left with an itch that RDR2 just isn't going to scratch. I've been waiting a long time for what I want them to release, but instead it has mostly been Benny's cars, adversary modes - the occasional re-imagined cargo work.

To hear there probably aren't going to be any fairly big DLCs anymore - and that this probably just means more cars and modes - it's not really good news for me. Of course cars are the main thing, but they've already had years of new content while other *cough* stuff *cough* hasn't had anything.

It's all "probably" and "might" though - I guess I'll just have to wait and see.

-Add some form of unranked free roam lobby with access to cheats, spawnable objects, etc. For filming, and for laughs.

That way, fan made content and mods can keep the game alive. I have no doubt the fans can create anything as good if not better than what R* can make.

The older the game gets the more ridiculous it is to charge hundreds of dollars for in game content that will at some point cease to exist. If they can start to slowly dismantle the greedy money draining economy and replace it with some decent patches to fix issues that have never been fixed. Change aspects of the game to not be designed to screw you over in order to drain your cash and become a burden. I would love to see the game become what I originally thought it would be, but they will no doubt ring it dry for as long as people will be spending money on it.

-Add some form of unranked free roam lobby with access to cheats, spawnable objects, etc. For filming, and for laughs.

That way, fan made content and mods can keep the game alive. I have no doubt the fans can create anything as good if not better than what R* can make.

The older the game gets the more ridiculous it is to charge hundreds of dollars for in game content that will at some point cease to exist. If they can start to slowly dismantle the greedy money draining economy and replace it with some decent patches to fix issues that have never been fixed. Change aspects of the game to not be designed to screw you over in order to drain your cash and become a burden. I would love to see the game become what I originally thought it would be, but they will no doubt ring it dry for as long as people will be spending money on it.

Imagine if we could have a vehicle creator? That might be taking it a little far, but still - I think if it was regulated, say only Rockstar verified vehicles are allowed online, that could have potential.

Polaco

You know, this day had to come, and either you want or not, you gotta accept it. Maybe, the free-DLC concept is widely acclaimed by many, as it is different, new, but not because it's worth it. Remember on this game, we had, and have still, cheaters, many of them, and many people with hundreds of millions on their accounts, even dozens of billions, and these players simply don't feel the downside of this concept, they buy, they get it. We have glitches also, and stuff like that. For sure it guaranteed players a lot of money in a easy-way. Maybe, it comes as a pack - poor anticheats with free-DLCs. Some buy them cheating, some buy them paying, and few working. But all of them keep it. Microtransactions became popular in GTA world, of which many here, including me, had nightmares of. As a result, unfortunately, we have 2 things: a poorly-done DLC, or its content, such as clothes, weapons or cars, and, the lack of attention with these, for example, many bugs which were not fixed yet - and don't hold your hopes, they never will. That's free after all, why would you complain about?

For once again, this game never sold Sharkcards to keep these DLCs, but made these expansions to keep selling Sharkcards. Everyone receives DLCs, they see its content, they are poor and want to buy it. They get sharkcards and then buy things. Cool, isn't it? Meanwhile in paid DLCs, you can't see things/test them.. Did you wanted an iPhone 1 month before you knew about it, or that this kinda of technology was going to be released and sold to public? Of course you didn't. Your freind bought one, and you asked him to test it, to check it at your own hands, and then you wanted it - like when that guy bought the Ruiner 2000 in-game, and you fell in love, you wanted it. Sharkcards or hard work? Well, you bought it.

Now, we see like when you are in the end of the line, 2 ways: a new GTA game will be released, as it Online counterpart, and they could make it great, nice anticheats, paid DLCs, something accceptable to grind for, OR, another poor anticheat, "free-DLCs", all it over again. You know what sells, you now the public...I think you got the answer. Yes, I'm disappointed.

For once don't get your hopes up for some free-DLCs to Single Player. We had this, as quality content, back when The Benz was at R*, working. As he left, we know what happened. There won't be another The Benz, to leave it again after some DLCs. Sorry.

Oh yes, I still have some hope for a paid DLC for SP, to finish it with golden key. That would be good, for us, and them.

3Doomer

GTAO was dead for me since all my cars disappeared..I can try to do something about that, but it doesn't make much sense - I've already done all Heists and played all new modes(which aren't so exciting).

If there won't be anything big like Heists, I don't see any reasons to play GTAO.

Also, anti-cheat's often triggers on innocent players, while real cheaters keep doing their sh*t all over the place.

Biira99

I am excited for a new GTA (whenever it comes out), as I believe it will include many great ideas that originated on this forum. Unfortunately, I don't think Red Dead is a game for me. I am not into westerns, and I think a lot of GTAO playerbase isn't going to "switch" to RDO just because it's newer (they may play both games simultanously). I think current GTAO is safe until next GTA, and possibly even after that (unless they shut it off completely).

A little OT, but I want to thank the forum staff for providing this News feature on the forum. It's a great idea!

SA Defense Force

Online died to me about 6 months ago, its the same thing over and over, and each update thus far has been a reskin of VIP work. The stuff they are adding is barely worth my time, and at this rate, will probably stop playing soon.

-Add some form of unranked free roam lobby with access to cheats, spawnable objects, etc. For filming, and for laughs.

That way, fan made content and mods can keep the game alive. I have no doubt the fans can create anything as good if not better than what R* can make.

The older the game gets the more ridiculous it is to charge hundreds of dollars for in game content that will at some point cease to exist. If they can start to slowly dismantle the greedy money draining economy and replace it with some decent patches to fix issues that have never been fixed. Change aspects of the game to not be designed to screw you over in order to drain your cash and become a burden. I would love to see the game become what I originally thought it would be, but they will no doubt ring it dry for as long as people will be spending money on it.

Imagine if we could have a vehicle creator? That might be taking it a little far, but still - I think if it was regulated, say only Rockstar verified vehicles are allowed online, that could have potential.

Stuff like this would not or would barely work out or be worth the hassle because RAGE(Rockstar Advanced Game Engine) is a private licensed Engine, along with many sub-systems from third parties.

Thus releasing such "Creator tools" would be quite a legal and technical hassle.

As for Rockstar Games relationship with TakeTwo:

This might come as a surprise to some, but when it comes to decision making or "blaming" Rockstar Games got the upper hand over TakeTwo.

It is Rockstar who complains to TakeTwo about blewing off their money or other stuff, not the other way around.

Back then Rockstar used to be at the verge of "giving in" to TakeTwo, because they had pretty high costs for legal troubles, so they were forced to take a deal with Sony to "assure" Take Two success.

But nowadays Rockstar Games is TakeTwos biggest revenue source, and with GTA Online, they are a constant one too.

This is also why TakeTwo is constantly trying to build something up which is distinguished from Rockstar Games and they are hesitant to being reffered to as "the GTA company", simply because Take Two, as of now is dependent on Rockstar, and not the other way around, so its Rockstar who is in charge of all business and game decisions, including the one of GTA Onlines continuation.

Happy Hunter

Stuff like this would not or would barely work out or be worth the hassle because RAGE(Rockstar Advanced Game Engine) is a private licensed Engine, along with many sub-systems from third parties.

Thus releasing such "Creator tools" would be quite a legal and technical hassle.

As for Rockstar Games relationship with TakeTwo:

This might come as a surprise to some, but when it comes to decision making or "blaming" Rockstar Games got the upper hand over TakeTwo.

It is Rockstar who complains to TakeTwo about blewing off their money or other stuff, not the other way around.

Back then Rockstar used to be at the verge of "giving in" to TakeTwo, because they had pretty high costs for legal troubles, so they were forced to take a deal with Sony to "assure" Take Two success.

But nowadays Rockstar Games is TakeTwos biggest revenue source, and with GTA Online, they are a constant one too.

This is also why TakeTwo is constantly trying to build something up which is distinguished from Rockstar Games and they are hesitant to being reffered to as "the GTA company", simply because Take Two, as of now is dependent on Rockstar, and not the other way around, so its Rockstar who is in charge of all business and game decisions, including the one of GTA Onlines continuation.

I think it only makes sense for Rockstar to start focusing on other things. They might still release a couple updates and a bigger one but I don't see them doing much more than that. After all they're probably going to need a full fledged team for RDR Online, and I assume they're going to start cherrypicking people from the GTA Online team to there, if they haven't already, which they have AFAIK.

Even though RDR doesn't cater to the masses as much as GTA, they really don't have infinite ideas. It's possible there will be a small team churning out updates for quite some time, but I don't really see this happening as I'm sure that soon enough plans for the next GTA or whatever next game will start being put into practice.

J0hnny0nTheSp0t

We all had a fantastic time in Los Santos and Blaine County, but it's now time to look into the future. In my eyes r* should save potential dlc ideas for "gtao 2.0". Looking at lasted dlcs they simply blow out tons and tons of content which could be maybe better used in the next gta.

xxi

I can't say I'm surprised, it's been years now. Once everyone hears the news about lack of updates this year, does anyone think GTA: O will start to lose players but some will probably stick around just for old time sake?

Rock* has given us a lot good stuff since online launched, I've bitched and moaned about how broken the game is but overall I've had good times. The CM Challenge being my favorite memory.

Original Light

I believe that there's a physical limit as to how much content they can put on the consoles, before they have to start compensating by downgrading or removing other aspects of the game itself. Additionally, you have a creative limitation as well.

As we can already see, the Xbox 360 and the PS3 already hit that physical limit a couple of years ago. It's only a matter of time before the current-gen consoles also reach that limit.

Additionally, I believe GTA Online is starting to experience fatigue. Eventually, players get tired of the same exact map and scenery - it gets stale, plain and simply lackluster. They did not add many new locations either, as it was initially purported to be true by early rumors in 2013. There is only so much content you can pack into one map before it just becomes redundant, stale, lackluster, and familiarity sets in. I've certainly experienced a case of déjà vu

many times.

I believe that players want fresh new content in a new location. Along with improved mechanics, gameplay, and new ideas. The only true answer to that is a GTA V/Online sequel.

Red Dead Redemption 2 will certainly fill in the gap until then, although the Old West is significantly more limited in when you can provide as DLC. There's only so many guns, and only so many horses. There's no fancy paint jobs, fancy clothes with fluorescent colors, or huge luxury apartments and customization options. And let's say these things were included? It certainly wouldn't be a realistic interpretation or representation of the Wild West. Neon-lit horses and tie-dye cowboys, anyone?